Press Release 155/2018

Science: High Pressure Orders Electrons

Researchers at KIT Examine Competing States in High-Temperature Superconductors – Publication in Science
2018_155_Science - Hoher Druck ordnet Elektronen_72 dpi
To apply controlled pressure to their microscopic superconducting sample (graphics), researchers use sensitive brackets with actuators based on the piezoelectric effect. (Fig.: KIT)

High-temperature superconductors can transport electrical energy without resistance. Researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have carried out high-resolution inelastic x-ray scattering and have found that high uniaxial pressure induces a long-range charge order competing with superconductivity. Their study opens up new insights into the behavior of correlated electrons. The researchers report on it in the Science journal  (DOI: 10.1126/science.aat4708).

 

Transporting current without losses – superconductors make it possible but only below a certain critical temperature. Conventional superconductors need to be cooled down to almost absolute zero – minus 273 degrees Celsius – and even the so-called high-temperature superconductors still need temperatures of around minus 200 degrees Celsius to transport current without resistance. Despite this, superconductors are already used in various areas (superconducting magnets, frequency filters, high density power lines). To develop superconductors that work at even higher temperatures – possibly up to room temperature – and therefore significantly contribute to an efficient energy supply, electronic states and processes involved in the formation of the superconducting condensate need to be understood at a fundamental level.

 

Researchers led by Professor Matthieu Le Tacon, director of the Institute of Solid-State Physics (IFP) at KIT, have now made a significant step forward: they have shown that high uniaxial pressure can be used to tune the competing states in a high-temperature superconductor. In addition to IFP at KIT, the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden, the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, and the Universidad Nacional de la Plata in Argentina took part in the study. The results are presented in the Science journal.

 

Using high-resolution inelastic x-ray scattering, the scientists examined a high-temperature cuprate superconductor, YBa2Cu3O6.67. In this complex compound, copper and oxygen atoms form two-dimensional structures. Changing the charge carrier concentration in these planes yields a variety of electronic phases including superconductivity and charge orders.

 

In the charge ordered state, the electrons ‘crystallize’ into stripe-shaped nanostructures. This electronic state is usually observed in these materials when superconductivity is suppressed using very large magnetic fields, making it hard to investigate using conventional spectroscopic tools.

 

Inducing this state in YBa2Cu3O6.67 using uniaxial pressure instead of magnetic fields allows to study its relationship to superconductivity using x-ray scattering, as the researchers from Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Dresden, Grenoble and La Plata discovered in their work. They have in particular been able to identified strong anomalies of the lattice excitation conneted to the formation of the charge order. “Our results provide new insights into the behavior of electrons in correlated electron materials and into the mechanisms yielding to high-temperature superconductitivity” explains Professor Matthieu Le Tacon from KIT. “They also show that uniaxial pressure has the potential to control the order of the electrons in such materials.”

 

Original publication:

H.-H. Kim, S. M. Souliou, M. E. Barber, E. Lefrancois, M. Minola, M. Tortora, R. Heid, N. Nandi, R. A. Borzi, G. Garbarino, A. Bosak, J. Porras, T. Loew, M. König, P. M. Moll, A. P. Mackenzie, B. Keimer, C. W. Hicks, M. Le Tacon: Uniaxial Pressure Control of Competing Orders in a High Temperature Superconductor. Science, 2018. DOI: 10.1126/science.aat4708. (Abstract at Http://science.sciencemag.org/content/362/6418/1040)

 

 

Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 9,800 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,300 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.

or, 30.11.2018
Contact:


Monika Landgraf
Chief Communication Officer
Head of Corporate Communications
Chief Press Officer
Phone: +49 721 608-41150
Fax: +49 721 608-43658
presse does-not-exist.kit edu

Contact for this press release:

Dr. Joachim Hoffmann
Press Officer
Phone: +49 721 608-41151
joachim hoffmann does-not-exist.kit edu
The photo in the best quality available to us may be requested by
presse does-not-exist.kit edu or phone: +49 721 608-41105.

The press release is available as a PDF file.